John w



.(NoMoael.)

J` W. RICKART.

` l 4 BAG PASTBNBR AND HOLDER. No.A 308.704. Patented Deo. 2, 1884.

ATTORNEYS.

ihviTsn STATES PaTnNT' Trice.

.IOHN W. BICKART, OF QUINCY, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO FRANCIS M. COLLINS, OF SAME PLACE.

BAG FASTENER AND HOLDER.`

.IPECEFCATON forming pari; of Letters Patent Nvo. 308,704-, dated December 2, 1884.

Application tiled June 18, 1884. (No model.)

fa @ZZ whom, it may concer/t:

Be it known that I, J oHr.T XV. RICKART, of Quincy, in the county of Adams and State ot' Illinois, have invented new and'usel'ul Improvements in Bag Fasteners and Holders, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My improved fastener and holder is mainly designed to be applied to bags for holding grain. Like other bagfasteners, or bag fasteners and holders, it has two sticks or bars secured on opposite sides of the mouth of the bag. Instead, however, of using rings arranged to slip over both ends of the two sticks, to hold the sticks in place when the bag is closed, and to serve as holders by which to suspend the bag when open, which rings are liable to be pushed off when the bag is filled, causing loss of the contents of the bag, or instead of substituting for said rings, in connection with the bars or sticks having suitable transverse grooves and perforations, cords which need tying and untying each time l[he bag is closed and opened, I employ a peculiar construction of hooking appliances, substantially as hereinafter described, and whereby the hooks of the fastening are -not liable to be accidentally detached from their hold when the bag is closed, the contents of the bag tend to tighten the fastening, l[he hooks form means by which to suspend the bag when open, and an improved bag fastener and holder generally is obtained.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying` drawings, forming a part of this specification in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l r`epresents a top view of a filled bag, in part, with my invention applied as a fastener to hold the bag closed. Figs. 2 and 3 are transverse sections, on the line x x in Fig. l, upon a larger scale, of the fastening sticks or bars and hooks, showing, respectively, in Fig. 2 the position of the fastening devices when the bag is closed, and in Fig. 3 the position of the same in or during the act of opening the bag, or when preparing to close it. Fig. 4 is a top view of the bag, in part, when open, and showing the hooks as in use for holding and suspending the bag open.

A B indicate the two sticks or bars permanently attached to opposite sides of the mouth ofthe bag C. The one, A, of these bars may be termed the holding-bar,77 inasmuch as it is the one by which the bag is suspended when open, and the other bar, B, be termed the fasteningbaig inasmuch as it is the one which engages with and disengages from certain hooks on the holding-bar when the bag is closed and being opened.

D D are the hooks secured in any suitable manner to opposite ends of the holding-bar A, and arranged so that when the bag is closed they project with their bent or hooking ends uppermost from and beyond the closing side of said bar. to receive within them the fastening-bar B. Both bars A and B are made somewhat longer than the mouth of the bag, to admit of the hooks D D engaging with-the bar B beyond the sides of the bag.

In the projecting end portions of the bar B are transverse grooves b b, arranged to nean ly encompass the bar, and each cutaway portion within either groove presents a rounded terminal surface, c. A hole or recess, d, is also made in the one side of each cutaway or grooved portion.

When the bag is closed by the fastener, as shown in Figs. l and 2, the hooks D D lie within the grooves b b, with their nose ends encompassing and extending beyond or over the rounded portions cof the grooved parts of the bar B, and the holes or recesses d arranged to prevent an upper exposure. When the parts are in this position, the bag is securely held closed, and the action of the contents ofthe bag on the sides of it will exert a, tendency to tighten the fastening. The sides ofthe grooves b form collars to hold the ends of the bar B from gettingrout of the hooks when the bag is closed.

To unfasten the bag, hold the bar A in one hand, and grasp the bar B with the other hand, with the fingers well under it, then press upward with said fingers on the inner portion ofthe under side of the bar B, and said bar will easily loosen, and may beturned from its position shown in Fig. 2 in the direction indicated by the arrow y in Fig. 3 till said bar turns out on the points of the IOO hooks D D, and by continued turning in the same direction said bar B will be wholly disengaged from the hooks. To close the bag again, place the bar B in the position shown in Fig. S-that is, with its rounded portions c downward on the shanks of the hooks D D, and so that the noses of the hooks enter within the recesses d of the bar-when, care having been taken to fold any surplus bag-materia-l inward from either side, by turning the bar B in a reverse direction to that indicated by the arrow y in Fig. 3, the fastener and holder will be made to resuine its normal closed position shownin Fig. 2. The rounded cut-away portions c of the bar B serve to facilitate the turning of said bar as described in the opening and closing of the bag, and the holes or recesses d serve for the points ofthe hooks to enter said bar B and to forni bearings for the bar to turn upon said points. After the bag has been fully opened, as shown in Fig. 4, the hooks DD serve as means for suspending the bag on its one side, and the weight of the unsupported bar B operates t0 `keep the bag open while being iilled.

Having thus described niy invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentl. In a fastener and holder, the eoinbination, with the bag and sticks 4or bars, of 3o hooks attached to the one of said bars at its opposite ends, and constructed and arranged to engage within collared or reduced portions near the opposite ends of the other or adjacent bar, substantially as specified.

2. The turning or fastening bar B, constructed with' grooves b b near its. opposite ends, and with its portions within said grooves provided with holes or recesses d, in combi nation with the holding-bar A and the hooks D D, attached thereto for operation, and the bag, said bars being applied to opposite sides of the Inontli of the bag, essentially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

3. The coinbination,with the bag, bar A, and the hooks D D, attached thereto, of the bar B, constructed with grooves bl b near its opposite ends', and with its portions within said grooves rounded, as at c, and provided with holes or recesses d, for operation in relation with each other, essentially as described.

JOHN w. nicKART.

Vitnesses:

F. M. MCCANN, JOHN PUTMAN. 

